I stopped us at the intersection where the Harborwalk met the park path and turned her toward me. It was easy to forget, sometimes, how young she really was. “Technically, it’s been almost a whole month. Just because we haven’t been going on dates every night doesn’t mean we weren’t still seeing each other.”
“Is that what we’re doing?” She gave me a crooked smile. “I don’t mean any offense, but when we met, you didn’t seem the type to jump into a real relationship. I think my uncertainty about your past was part of what made me put this off for so long.”
My mouth opened, but my voice failed me. We’d touched on the subject for about half a second the first time I’d asked her to dinner, then it never came up again. Both of us had been against dating for entirely different reasons, but she’d reluctantly gone with it and I’d suddenly stopped sleeping around.
I didn’t date.
But something about Lexi felt right. Like she was always meant to be mine. The world as I knew it had shifted the day she strolled in looking for a job. Her amber eyes watched me, a hint of worry in the tilt of her eyebrows, as I struggled for an adequate response.
While I hesitated to define exactly what we were, fate had other plans for us that night.
“Hello again, Lucifer.”
I spun, pushing Lexi behind me instinctively. I’d gotten so used to the feel of Lexi’s aura, it had completely masked the approach of the large group of demons trying to surround us. All the power I’d used to fix Lexi’s random surges on the tour must’ve drawn them straight to us. Being with her was making me careless.
At the front of the group was a familiar face, one he’d often taken in human form. A tall, thin build with greasy, slicked-back dirty blonde hair, wearing ill-fitting armor from another age. “Astaroth. When did they let you out of the pit?”
“Abaddon released me the day you disappeared from your chains,” he growled. “Thought I might be willing to prove my loyalty by hunting you down.”
Shit. I needed to get Lexi out of here so I could take care of these guys. “How did you find me?”
Astaroth sneered. “I’m smarter than the other fallen. I knew you would be somewhere near a great source of power. I just never expected it to be some random human girl.”
Human wasn’t exactly the word I’d have used to describe her. He crouched and black wings materialized behind him. Lexi was going to have to make a run for it and hope I was the only one they cared about. I grabbed her and shoved her away, shooting her a quick, apologetic glance.
“Run.”
Without looking back to see if she did, my black wings materialized. I went a step further, though, as red scales burst through my human flesh, my clothes shredding. The silky feathers disappeared, my wings becoming more dragon-like. My bones cracked and shifted as I settled into my hybrid form, and I leveled a glare at Astaroth for ruining what had started off as a fucking nice night.
My furious roar shook the ground as Astaroth and the soldier demons all came at me at once. Out of habit, I opened my senses to any and all surface thoughts as I slashed my way through them. This form was too bulky to fight fluidly, a slight advantage my human form had, but the scales prevented most of their swords and spears from penetrating my flesh.
I dropped to all fours and speared through two at once, teeth and claws ripping through them like wet paper. One jumped on my back, trying to penetrate the scales between my shoulder blades. I threw the demon into two others and spun, knocking more away just as Astaroth moved in.
His sword bit into my arm and I growled. I took a swipe at him, but he pumped his wings and went high, waiting for an opportunity to dive-bomb me. Being locked up for centuries hadn’t improved his battle strategies. I ripped another demon’s head off, but it seemed like the more I destroyed, the more showed up. How many had he brought with him?
Flashes of red across the park tried to draw my attention, but if I lost focus for even a second, they would overrun me. My fire called to me, but I couldn’t utilize it yet. I needed information I wasn’t getting from the peons I’d been fighting for weeks and months. Astaroth might know more about Abaddon’s plans.
“What’s the purpose of this, Astaroth?” I roared, taking out two more. “I’m immortal. You can’t kill me.”
Astaroth landed on the demon directly in front of me and plunged his sword through my stomach. I gasped in pained shock, grabbing his shoulders. A crooked grin stretched his face awkwardly.
“I never said I needed to kill you.” He chuckled darkly, the soldiers around him echoing the sound. “Abaddon wants you alive and in chains where he can make an example of you and rein the hellions back in.”
I fell to my knees, pondering the thought of Abaddon losing control of his own troops. A familiar glint of orange caught my attention, peeking from the collar of the armor Astaroth wore. “Why isn’t Abaddon here already?” I rasped.
He laughed. “You think I was stupid enough to give someone else the opportunity to claim my reward? He won’t know I have you until I drop your half-dead body at his feet.”
That meant no one else knew he was there. No one else was coming. I grinned, but it had a dark edge to it, and Astaroth took a step back. Rising to my feet, I pulled the sword from my gut. The air rippled around me as, not Hellfire, but Angelfire gushed from my hands, swirling in near-liquid waves around the entire clearing, engulfing every demon nearby.
It was a black fire, born of the cosmos of which all angels were created. Demons had no chance of withstanding it. Even their charred remains disintegrated into nothingness.
Only Astaroth remained when it receded, being one of the fallen himself, though of a lesser rank. He looked as if he were going to piss himself, though. I took a step toward him, clenching my hands to steady myself, and he fell to the ground. He didn’t need to know how much energy Angelfire cost me.
“Please, my king, I was only following orders,” he pleaded. “If I’d known you retained your powers after—”
“After what?” I bellowed. My voice carried a rasp from the dragon’s vocal chords, but my words were clear. “After Abaddon desecrated the Sanctum with his insurrection? After he decimated anyone who would claim loyalty to me? After he chained me up like the Grigori Azazel and tested blade after blade on my flesh?”
The pathetic excuse for a fallen cowered at my feet. “Tell me how I may serve, my king. I was once your loyal servant. Let me tend you again!”
